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| Haha! I mixed up my public blog with my family blog. Oops! Sorry for the long, reporter-esque Hong Kong entry. Hope it wasn't too painful!
I finished Week 1 of my job search. Mixed feelings. It's great to have no pressure from school or from management. In fact it does wonders for my skin, my eating habits, my Vitamin D intake, my living environment, my social connection, my reading wishlist. Heck, probably the biggest testament to the benefits of unemployment is the sight of my fridge with at least one actual perishable food item on each shelf. Still, my mind, whether from habit or need, is still running 10,000 mph. I tick of a list of things I need to plan or take care of, goals I want to obtain before re-employment. decision values I need to figure out. My voice mail still has the 5 or so saved messages from people I need to call back, go see, or pray for. My backyard still looks like the invasion of the Weed King and his minions.
There's a tiny voice that keeps repeating a phrase to me through all this. "Busyness." At the end of my freshmen year and at the beginning of one Jo Chen's Walk, Jo had given me a short article that cautioned Christians against the distraction of busyness. The article is still somewhere in my room, filed away in a binder. Hopefully, recognizing the trap that might be laid out for me will mean that I will be able to spend more time with the people that matter or doing the work that matters. We'll see, huh? =)
Tomorrow's a brand new day. (And, if it is anything like today, tomorrow's only 3 hours away!) Thanks for reading. Good night, friend! | | |
| Flight to Hong Kong: Horrible. Chairs are all stiff and awkward now. Who made this new design? It's totally max-profit-min-comfort. Although, the entertainment center is pretty nifty. Games, movies, tv, documentaries. Too bad the chairs were just so freakin' uncomfortable. I dread the flight home. I'll need a tranquilizer or something to numb the whole experience.
Saturday:
- touched down at 7am. Sundar, Susan and I lingered on the flight so we could find out what first class looked like. From Sundar's description of business class, it couldn't get any better than that. Unless first class was in a flying castle. We lucked out (probably because Sundar and Susan were wearing "Stanford" shirts) and the crew allowed us in the holy of holy equivalent. A bit of a bubble burster. First class is just like business class only it has less chairs, a front bar, and real orchid flowers in each chair-cube. Not paying a million dollars for a spacier business class experience. The crew encouraged us to take over the world the Stanford way and then return in 10 years to fly 1st class. We laughed and left.
- the 9 of us figured out how to get to take the taxi to the hotel. In my car, there were 5 of us: the 3 Asian girls, the 1 Indian, and the 1 Chilean. It was not too squishy of a trip. Saved us $40HK by sharing a cab instead of bussing it.
- after attempted to check in (the hotel was not ready for us), the first place we stopped by was a little square of US in the midst of HK world: Starbucks. Ahhhh, the fresh aroma of S. American coffee that we US Americans can't live without.
- for breakfast, the hotel suggested a dim sum place around the corner. We were the most colorful group: 1 from Shanghai, 2 from France, 1 from Portugal, me from California, 1 from India, 1 from Wisconsin, 1 from Chile, and 1 from Singapore. And then, we started acting like tourists: couldn't make top or bottom of the menu, tried to request napkins by playing charades with the waitress (she laughs and walks away), attempted to take 5 million pictures of everything (even the money), and had the usual chopstick adventures newbies go through. Luckily, our Shanghai girl was able to order for us, though there were still great confusion as the waitress didn't quite speak Mandarin. The wait staff made regular comment on how they have never served so many dishes to one table. *sigh* Soooo shameful, huh? In the end, we cleaned out about 50 dishes and thank goodness for cheap HK food. It ended costing each of us $63HK (~$8 US).
- After breakfast, we found an electronics store where one of our classmates tried to buy a phone. The transactions would start with my classmate speaking in French, a 2nd classmate translating into English, a 3rd translating into Mandarin, and the cashier answer in Cantonese. Doesn't get much more diverse than that, my friends.
- Then it was to the university, HKUST, so we could do work. We figured out the MTR and bus routes and safely got to campus by 1ish. Upon arrive in the school quad, we were surprised to see our photos from the HK students' Stanford visit displayed up on their digital welcome screen. We must have made such a spectacle, yelling in glee and surprise at each new picture we saw of us, taking pictures of the pictures, and just generally making a lot of hub bub over seemingly nothing. We stood out enough for a student to stop by and ask if we were a) from Stanford and b) looking for Prof. Tseng (the HK prof for our class). We didn't know if we were so we went to find Prof Tseng anyway. It was really nice of that HK student to offer us help and to be our guide. The university is like a maze.
- When we got to the Professor's department, it was nose to the grindstone. As I suspected, all hard feelings were shelved upon meeting face to face. There's something to be said about not hiding behind a laptop screen. I think diplomacy should always be done in person. My group, the Gammon team, was the first to present to the Professors the next morning at 10am so we worked hard until 11:30pm. Then it was back to the hotel, hopefully straight to bed, and then early up.
- Unfortunately, that's not how it goes. When I got to the hotel, my roommate had already checked in. I went up our room, where she left all her stuff everywhere on the floor (must have been some crazy unpacking...............-___-). To make matters worse, I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on. So, there I was, wandering around in the dark, trying to keep the hotel door open so I could see but closed so no one could jump little ol' me since it was so late and I was the only one there. After half an hour of bumbling around and failing to contact any of my classmates, my teammate graciously called me back and told me how to turn the lights one. Hallelujah!! Especially since this means I can now shower. I love showers. Grease is just so over-rated.
- Too bad the night was not so great. I was able to go to bed by 1am. But I got woken up by my roommate who returned at 3am. Then at 6am, the freakin' hotel room alarm clock goes off. Twice. Finally killed that abomination. And of course, my roommate gets a phone call at 7:45am. *sigh* might as well get up and head to my presentation cuz it looks like the world just won't let me sleep.
Sunday:
- Trying to remind ourselves that we were from the US, my US team started the day with a trip to good ol' Starbucks. Well, it was out of practicality. Where else were we to get breakfast foods to go at 9 in the morning without doing some research? We took the taxi, trying to save sometime. Too bad the taxi guy dropped us off at the edge of oblivion so we had to walk across the campus to find our meeting place. Thank God that we had Yingjia on our team. She speaks respectable Chinese, unlike me. I only look Chinese. Throughout the whole trip, I keep having to explain to people that even though I look Chinese, I can't speak respectable Chinese, so don't try talking to me. I won't get it.
- Well, it was work-work-work after we got to campus. From presenting to the professors, we found that many of the ideas that our HK team killed early in the quarter and which we obstinately stuck into our presentation were ideas that the professors found to be creative angles. Lesson learned: sometimes, it's worth fighting for your ideas to take the stage too.
- For dinner, the US class (minus one team who ended up working on their presentation until 5:30am that night) decided to go to Mong Kok. The majority of them went to hot pot but because Sundar is vegetarian, I said I would accompany him to a vegetarian restaurant. And because Yingjia knew I couldn't make heads or tails of the menus, she accompanied Sundar and I to dinner. So, it was just the three of us at the Buddhist Vegetarian restaurant. Quite an experience. I had fake beef and Yingjia had fake pork. The beef was so real tasting. Sundar finally tried a teeeeeeny tiny piece of the beef. After staring at the beef for a million years, he finally got enough courage to eat it. He said he could understand why people enjoy eating beef now, though, it would be hard for him to try again. Sundar explained that his vegetarianism doesn't come from religion, but from lifestyle. Eating meat, seafood, or eggs for him would be the equivalent of us eating fried spiders or grasshoppers.
- After dinner, we met the rest of the class at the hotel and, though Yingjia and I were dead tired, our classmates dragged us with them to the party street that we keep hearing about. Since neither Yingjia nor I drink or go clubbing, we were happy that the street was quite dead on Sunday night, unlike what we heard it was like on Saturday from other classmates. The rest of our classmates were seriously disappointed. So we went by the harbor and looked at the building lights for awhile before taxi-ing back to the hotel.
- Then, it was another night of not much sleep. This time, it was I that returned late (1:30am).
Monday:
- Our US team had the morning free since our class presentation didn't start until 2pm. So we went in search of a tailor as one of us wanted a HK tailored suit. On nearly every block, there is one or two Indian men who are just loitering around, looking for (I suppose) Westerners who need a suit. When they find you, they take you to their shop where there is a tailor. We tried 2 shops before we found one we liked.
- Then it was back to campus for the presentation. One of my teammates started feeling ill halfway through so we sent him back to the hotel early because we need him healthy for the presentation tomorrow. After the presentation, the HK professor wanted to walk through our presentations and make comments. I requested that he give us a 1hr break as the US side of our team didn't get to go eat lunch. The prof then decided to treat our whole team (minus the guy that went home sick) to dinner. And of course, Sundar's vegetarianism was a challenge as the prof tried to be a "good guy" and order many vegetarian foods, though he asked that Sundar be a little tolerant as the urge to be a "bad guy" (eat meat) was too strong for the prof to go completely vegetarian.
- After dinner, the prof's ripped through our presentation slides. The US team tried to deflect most of the comments made on slides created by our team but the Hong Kong team took all of the prof's suggestions on their slides. After the professor left, we went to work. Tempers flared as the hours ticked away and the HK team tried to get the US team to take all of the professors' advice while the US team tried to show the HK team how meaningless some of the changes seemed at this point of the game. We finally ended at 10:30 and we took the taxi back to the hotel.
- I stayed up until 1:30 working on my presentation. Luckily for me, my roommate decided to stay in Macau that night so I was able to have my very first "full night's rest."
Tuesday:
- Early Tuesday, the US team caught a cab to Gammon with the US professor. We met the HK team and the HK professor at the client site where we gave a great presentation. The client seemed happy but who knows. He could just be doing that Asian thing: saying nice things. We'll see just how truthful it was if Gammon really comes through on the encore presentation request.
- After the presentation, Gammon gave us all hardhats and neon vests to wear on our tour. We toured their storage site and finally got to see how they sorted their waste. Whoohooo!!! Finally some relevant data points. Too bad that was after the presentation.
- We parted ways for lunch and met a friend of one of the US teammates for lunch and dessert at the IFC. After which, we went shopping at the Ladies Market in Mong Kok, where my classmates pissed off so many vendors by their naively low price bargaining. During our shopping, we met a freshmen girl from Berkeley who was in Hong Kong for her spring break visiting her grandma. She was thrilled to finally find some English speakers and stuck with us for the whole time we were in Mong Kok, though I think it's more because she liked my teammate. =)
- On our way back to the MTR, we came across a TV show filming some sort of video. They had a pretty girl wearing a dress made of balloons, dancing in middle of the street. My classmates took this opportunity to try to up the other in showing how great his camera was with action photography. Of course, being "Americans," we were so loud that the TV crew ended up filming us instead of the dancing balloon girl. Who knows what show we will end up on. The boys liked the dancing balloon girl so much that they went back to get photos with her.
- We had our Farwell Dinner that night. Slides shows, trivia games, and signed shirts later, we parted ways, with most of the Stanford kids going to the on campus pub for one last hangout before going separate ways. My friends and I tagged along. 1 beer and 3 shots later, we left the festivities and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.
- This night was also a good night of sleeping, probably because of the alcohol, though I once again disturbed my roommate from slumber. =/
Wednesday
- met Dad at the hotel in the morning.
- went to the dim sum place that I went to on Saturday morning.
- went to see 10 million light shops
- tried to get money from HSBC. Forgot the pass code. Fail. Freakin' woman steps on me in this building and rips Nat's shoe. I should have decked the freakin' woman, instead of just yelling. Freakin' woman.
- went to see Gramma. Her voice sounds different. She's got a lot of mucus in her throat. Dad fed her the yams she was working on. She kept saying she was scared. Every time Dad left to go find a coat or towel or something for Gramma, I would hold her hand and try to tell her not to be scared. We kept telling her I was "Doodoo!" and "A-Ma how!!!" and "Ya gou ho ho ah!" Hopefully, we'll be able to visit her some more.
- went to check into our hotel which was close to the our old flat
- went to see Robyn and her 6 cats. They moved. Robyn has grown so tall! She's as tall as me and super skinny, really shy. A good kid. I was telling Dad that it's odd to see that Uncle Freddie is the one who raised such an innocent and good kid like Robyn. I gave Robyn one of the bookmarks that HKUST gave me. She gave me a chocolate egg.
- Mango juice on our way back to the hotel! I looked for this for the whoooooole day.
Thursday
- got an email from the school. Turns out, they can't find the professor and he needs to post my grade ASAP so I can graduate. Luckily, he gave us his HK phone number so I straightened that out.
- went to HSBC and finally got money
- got breakfast. Called the doctor and found that the appointment was actually yesterday. Oops.
- went to the doctor's
- wandered the mall while waiting for the tile, light, blinds stores to open. Looked for bridesmaids' dresses. We asked the lady to show us formal wear, to which she pulled out a sun dress. I asked her for something more formal, so she pulled out a black sun dress. Even more formal. A black sun dress with hideous puff sleeves. I had enough and left with Dad.
- went to see 50 tile stores
- went to 1st lunch (just me eat)
- went to 50 more light stores
- went to 2nd lunch (just me eat)
- went to 1 blinds store
- went to YWCA hotel to checkin. Not too shabby. And free Wifi at their cafe (where I'm at now). I had dinner here (or 3rd lunch, if you're counting). Dad's in the room, no food for him. Not sure how he will survive tomorrow. I'm going to head back to see how he's doing as I spend the last 1.5 hours eating and internet-ing.
'Till later!
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| It is usually said that one should not live to work but to work inorder to live. I'd like to submit that the real musing should be that work is not your life, rather Life is your work. Then, no matter how much or how little your work demands of you, you are still striving toward your ultimate goal. There is no longer a conflict between quality of work and quality of life.
In other news, my new housemate is turning me girly. O.O My partners for the young adult group are turning me into a rebel without much cause. O_O I feel like a confused Jr. Higher. *sigh* When can I just go back to being Mel, mad scientist without a brain? It's too bad that Life keeps changing me. I could so excel at being mad without a brain. | | |
| Man, I forgot how to post an entry. Ed was right. There is no time to write xanga entries now since I only live to create and edit power point slides. You'll have to wait for another day, when slides no longer exist. 'till then! your's truly, ~Power Point '03 Engineer | | |
| Hmm...okay, I think I'm a little overwhelmed with all the schoolwork. All my classes seems very interesting but, there's so much information being thrown around all day everyday. =(. I guess I can take solace in knowing that whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger....or kill me later. | | |
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